We have just completed one of our unique American rites, the election of our President. Regardless of our politics, our freedom to vote is something we can all be grateful for on this Thanksgiving. 
Over the past few months we have been bombarded with political terms, sound-bites, and symbols, many so common we take them for granted. But where did they come from? Many have backgrounds quite different than what you might expect, some quite colorful. Here are a few of the most interesting.
Let's start with the acronym GOP. Anti-slavery activists formed the Republican party in 1854. They referred to it as the "Gallant Old Party." This morphed into the "Grand Old Party," which was further shortened to GOP, the nickname used to this day. But how did the colors red and blue, or the animals donkey and the elephant, attach themselves to our two major parties? Since our flag was red, white, and blue, red and blue seemed the natural "political" colors. Interestingly, early on red was mostly used by the Democrats and blue by the Republicans; this was the color scheme NBC's David Brinkley famously referred to in a 1984 broadcast where he aired a map showing Reagan's "sea of blue" landslide sweep of 49 states. CBS was also using red to denote the Democrats at that time. Marching to its own color scheme, however, ABC used yellow for one major party and blue for the other. Colors remained in flux till 2000, when all major electronic media outlets finally used the same colors for each party. That color scheme, red for Republicans and blue for Democrats, persists to this day. That entities as polarized and combative as competing major television networks could find common ground and come to an agreement on this gives us hope that the parties themselves can eventually compromise for the common good.
How the parties got their animal mascots is an even more colorful story. Back in 1870, President Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, had earned a reputation for being "thick-headed" and "stubborn as a mule." He actually took pride in this. His outspoken opponents went so far as to call him a "Jackass," a lampoon that quickly appeared in political cartoons. And in no time "the head wagged the tail" and the donkey came to represent the entire Democratic party. However, the Republicans were not to fare much better. In 1874 the renowned German-born political cartoonist Thomas Nash depicted Republicans in Harper's Weekly as a lumbering sluggish elephant. The symbol took. Nash, by the way, was the same artist who gave us the pictorial versions of Santa Claus and Uncle Sam that persist to this day.
Also persisting to this day is the American dream of ownership of home and property. I am honored to be given my clients' "vote" as their intermediary or facilitator in this process. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, count on me being "gallant," professional and considerate, "stubbornly" persistent towards your goals, and with that big gray beast's memory and staunchness till we sweep away the 49-plus things that stand in the way of achieving your goals. When I've done my job, the color of the day will be neither blue or red, but green.
We'll celebrate and have a grand party, in Sun City Grand that is!
View Sun City Grand, Sun City West, Corte Bella, Arizona Traditions, Sun City Festival, Trilogy at Vistancia, Pebble Creek in a larger map
Comments(2)